I sped through folding the load of laundry that had just come out and looked at the notification as it appeared:
[Congratulations on completing task: folding laundry, quest rewards will be withheld until the above quest is complete]
I looked and it was referring to taking out the trash. "Come on!!!!" I yelled at the air.
[New quest! Start new load of laundry. Time to complete quest: 3 days.]
I grumbled a bit. Well at least I didn't have to do that one right away. This was going to be a long morning.
I rolled up my sleeves and tackled the dishes again. I typically quit once the dish drain is full, but I pressed on.
Don't quit. Don't quit. Don't quit.
I told myself. Every dish I placed there added to the tower until it was harder and harder to find room for another one. I felt my patience straining.
[-20MP]
The system notified me that my motivation was beginning to strain.
I placed another dish to dry, rearranging all of them to fit it.
[-20MP]
[-20MP]
[-20MP]
[-20MP]
My irritation bubbled. I was only losing points by the work I was doing, but my stubbornness was greater. "I'm going to do things my way." I said to the system.
My body fought every move I made as I washed another plate.
[-20MP]
Come on! I thought, the end was in sight, I had finally cleared one side of the sink. Then the system sent me a notification.
[Warning: your motivation points have gone under 50MP, you must take out the trash or 100HP will be docked. Your body will begin default mode, all motivation will refill, but no points will be rewarded for 10 hours.]
I had wasted 120 motivation points out of the 150 that I had. I looked at my stats:
30MP
150 EXP
150 HP
So the system was threatening me that if I didn't take out the trash, I would end up super motivated to clean, but too tired to do so? The idea was torture. It may not be a person, but perhaps the AI was a madman afterall.
Once I finished closing out the notification, I looked back at the dishes I so badly wanted to finish and realized they all had food on them that needed to go in the trash—food that didn't fit in the trash. The system had ensured that I could not achieve the tasks in the order I wanted to.
"Fine!" I grumbled. I stomped over to the can. The trashcan had become a physical embodiment of my refusal to back down. I looked at it with dread. It's lid slightly open, holding the contents inside of it in place, keeping them from spilling out.
For some reason, it dared me to try shoving the food on those dishes in there just to have my way.
I opened the lid by pressing my food on the pedal.
I pressed the pedal with my foot and took a deep breath, bracing myself. "Gaaaaaaaaa!" I yelled as I yanked at the bag. It didn't budge. I pulled harder, and the can tilted forward, threatening to spill its contents. "You want a fight? Fine!" I growled, yanking with all my strength.
"Gaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!" I yelled, channeling the strength of a knight pulling Excalibur from stone. With one final, heroic heave, I freed the bag from its vile prison. A foul puff of air escaped like the trash can's dying breath. Victory was mine—though at what cost?"
I held it away from my body, straining under the weight of its contents because my arms are barely strong enough to lift it. And ran towards the door before any chance of it leaking on my floor occurred.
As I reached the door I looked back and with a sigh of relief, I took it out to the can out front. I was only wearing my socks and I would regret it later, in case I stepped on a rock or those spiky seeds that littered my lawn, but I did it anyway.
When I returned, I stepped into the house, and my foot came into contact with a small cold puddle of trash juice drippings. I was sure that the bag hadn't leaked, but apparently it had.
Right in the doorway.
Right where I had momentarily paused.
A chill went up my body from that foot and I filled with dread. "Ugh! Come on!" I yelled. I peeled my nasty sock from my foot and hopped to find a towel to wash it off.
Then I put a new bag into the can and washed my hands. The familiar Bing! Rang out.
[+50HP] floated for a bit in the air before dissipating and my HP stats had returned to 200/200. I smiled. Ok then. I thought. I guess that wasn't so bad. My motivation points had gone back up to 80. It seemed like whenever I got energy, I also got motivation. Alright then.
Back to dishes.
As I turned around though, my HP suddenly got a boost. [+20 HP +20 MP ]
What was this for? I tried to remember. Oh yeah! I had folded the laundry! I got less points for doing a task I wanted to do instead of one that the system insisted on, but still, I had eventually gotten my points. I smiled. Ok then, the system wasn't too bad.
I returned to the dish drain and began putting the dishes away.
[+1+1 +1 +1 +1+1 +1 +1 +1] the system chimed away every time I put a dish away, as well as it seemed for every one that I had washed as well. It seemed like it had kept track for me in some back log somewhere. Nice.
The sink still had dishes in it, but my MP was still pretty low. I didn't want to continue the task anymore. I plugged the drain and filled it will soap and water and allowed it to soak. Then I piled all of the dishes from the counter into the sink and cleaned the counter instead.
Bing!
[Task: clean the dishes is incomplete. User will no longer be able to find forks until task is complete.]
"What??" I exclaimed. I yanked open the silverware drawer and sure enough there were no forks. Not even one.
"Gaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!" I yelled, slamming the drawer again, the utinsils clanking in shock.
I needed to get out of the kitchen. Time to head upstairs with Rory and Timothy; I need a break.
Just as I reached the staircase, the familiar Bing! Sounded.
[Alert. Task pending: suspicious activity detected in Rory and Timothy's bedroom. Immediate action required. Toy bins are at 85 percent capacity.]
I grasped at the railing confused. Toy bins? I wondered what the system was talking about, but then I heard the faint sound of water running in the upstairs bathroom. Knowing my kids, it could only mean one thing.
"Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!" I cried and ran up the stairs, two steps at a time; praying that the mess they had made wasn't as bad as I imagined.